Tommy Flavio Orazietti (tommyflavio)

I have been a fan of competitive PvP FPS games since Unreal Tournament and Time Splitters 2 (I guess Goldeneye planted the seed of that enjoyment). My favorite game over the years WAS Halo 3 (with Halo 2 and Halo Reach a close 2nd and 3rd) but I haven't found an enjoyable game to fill those shoes. Browsing the Xbox Store a month ago completely changed that. I can honestly say, Splitgate has quickly become my new all-time favorite competitive PvP FPS game ever. I enjoyed many series along the way, but none have had the charm, the implied strategic aspects, or the fluidity as Splitgate. The formula is seemingly simple, Halo 3-esque arena shooter with portals. Honestly, it's the execution and the decisions made along the way by the small Stanford U derived dev company that makes this game what it is. To start, the movement mechanic choices and limitations set the scene for completely fluid gameplay once you become intimately familiar with the limited jetpack and once portals become involuntary. To be honest, the only thing I can compare the fluidity to in real life is ice skating (if you know, you know; try the laser tag game type for an overemphasized feeling of this). The maps may be infuriating or underwhelming at first, however, once you reach a certain learning-curve threshold, you will understand how each map was cleverly developed to make every game flow extremely well, regardless of game type. This combined with the fact that this game was graciously decided to be free-to-play with no "pay to win" imbalances, complete with a worthwhile Season based Battle Pass (which will indefinitely pay for every Battle Pass season down the road if you put in the effort to unlock it or just buy it once) you can bet that the 1047 team behind Splitgate has a long-term over short-term mentality. All of these factors have positively attributed to the amazing game and community that is Splitgate. If you have a PS4, PS5, XBOX ONE, XBOX SERIES X/S, or even STEAM on PC, and enjoy competitive/social PvP arena FPS games at all, you are cheating yourself out of a lot of enjoyment if you don't give Splitgate a shot. Especially with the amazing community that organically developed seemingly overnight. tl dr; Splitgate is an addicting and beautifully fluid arena based PvP FPS game with an added level of real time strategy never before accomplished in a game of this genre.

Been a "Souls" fan since the original Demon Souls for PS3 and was recently looking for a metroidvania game. Accidentally stumbled upon "Grime" in the Stadia Pro library. I can't stop saying to myself how much I'm enjoying this game. A slew of weapons/consumables/armor to collect with minimum attributes at times, an ability/mod system, smooth gameplay, slightly bizarre imagery (nowhere near Blasphemy though), extremely challenging but fair difficulty, and an enormous environment/map. Definitely a hidden gem I'm glad I stumbled on. I wholeheartedly recommend giving this a shot if you enjoy the addicting metroidvania recipe.